George Washington's Farewell Address

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George Washington's Farewell Address was an address by George Washington to the people of the United States at the end of his second term as President of the United States. It appeared in many American newspapers on September 19, 1796. Technically speaking, it was not an address, but an open letter to the public published in the form of a speech. Washington's fellow Americans gave it the title of "Farewell Address" to recognize it as the President's valedictory to public service for the new Republic.

In 1792, Washington was prepared to retire after one term as the President of the United States. To that end, Washington, with James Madison, wrote a farewell address to the public of the United States of America. Faced with the unanimous objections of his Cabinet, Washington agreed to stand for another term. In 1796, Washington refused a third term. Starting with his 1792 draft, Washington and rewrote the text to better fit the problems that were emerging into the new political landscape. He had much help from Alexander Hamilton but all the key ideas were those of Washington, not Hamilton or Madison.

There are two themes from the speech which are particularly important. The first describes what Washington sees as rising sectionalism and political factionaliam in the country. He urges Americans to unite for the good of the whole country. Two political factions that developed into political parties in the early 1790s were the Federalists, and the Jeffersonian Republicans. The Federalists, and Washington himself, backed Hamilton's plan for a central bank and other strong central economic plan based on manufacturing while the Jeffersonian Republicans opposed the strong government inherent in the Hamiltonian plan, and favored farmers as opposed to city people. Washington foresaw that this intense political polarization would be the largest issue in the new government, as these two sides attempted to further craft and guide the nation.

The second theme consists of harsh words warning to avoid entanglements with foreign powers, particularly in Europe. Both parties wanted to stay out of the wars between France and Britain. The Federalists favored stronger ties to the British and the Republicans insited on adhering to the Treaty the U.S. had signed with France in 1778. Washington thus was warning everyone that partisanship might drag the United States into this fray.

The Address quickly became a basic political document for the new nation. It was reprinted as part of the membership paraphernalia of the Washington Benevolent Societies that sprang up after his death in 1799. It was printed in children's primers, engraved on watches, woven into tapestries and read annually before Congress until the mid-1800s. With the widespread notoriety and usage, the speech became a benchmark of sorts, a philosophy on which to judge the two party political structure and certain foreign affairs. Specifically, the Address was so frequently cited whenever a treaty of national alliance was proposed that it wasn't until 1949, with the signing of the treaty that established NATO, that the United States would again enter into such an agreement.

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Source material for this article and complete text for Washington's farewell address: [U.S. State Department]

George Washington's Farewell Address

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